Set Me Free
by dolphinz.amazon
Summary: Catherine is approached by a strange man who asks her to help his friend. Donna is in trouble, and the Tenth Doctor can't see her for fear of being recognized (this takes place after *spoiler alert* the Doctor wipes Donna's memory). So, he sends Catherine instead.
1. Chapter 1

I walked down the street, listening to the mundane noises of everyday life. I was sick of this boring stuff. I pulled out my iPod and hit "shuffle". The first song was "The Christmas Song". It was June. I skipped the song, and my iPod started playing "Set Me Free". Much better.

I looked up. I saw a man wearing a trench coat and converse. He was looking straight at me. His eyes looked old, sad, lonely- and also kind. He walked over and gently grabbed my arm, turning me so that I was walking alongside him. I took my earbuds out, too shocked to do anything else.

...

"Hello," he said. "Just keep walking; don't look alarmed. I'm the Doctor, and I need your help." I followed his instructions and kept walking, somewhat uneasily.

"What do you want? I don't have any medical experience." I thought for a moment. "I hope it's not... well you're a strange man, and I'm a young woman..."

"No, no, no, no, nothing like that. I just..." he paused. All of a sudden, he got a faraway look in his eyes, as if remembering. He looked like the saddest and loneliest man in the universe, and in that moment, I couldn't help but pity him.

"What do you need me to do?"

"It's not safe to talk here. We need to go to the TARDIS." I shifted uncomfortably.

"You're a strange man, you grabbed my arm and said you needed my help, and now you're asking me to come with you to this 'TARDIS', which for all I know could be your..." I tried to think of a polite word- "snog box. Should I be worried?" I sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just..." He nodded as if he understood my unspoken sentence.

"We can keep walking through the crowds, but don't talk too loudly. I can tell you what's going on, and then you can decide if you trust me. Does that sound fair to you?" I nodded. We kept walking.

...

"I need you to help my friend."

"What's her name? And why can't you help her yourself?"

"Donna Noble. And... It's complicated." I stared him straight in the eyes, waiting for an answer. "Very complicated." I kept staring at him. "Well..." I glared at him. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I raised an eyebrow. He sighed. "Fine, you asked for it."

"I didn't say anything!" He rolled his eyes.

"She was my friend, though we didn't exactly meet under the best of circumstances."

"How so?"

"Well, she accidentally ended up in my TARDIS. On her wedding day."

"I knew I shouldn't trust you!"

"Please don't shout. Someone could hear us."

"EXTERMINATE!" Apparently, someone had.

**Author's Note: those two songs are actually the first two that came up when I hit "shuffle", though they came up in the opposite order. Also, a disclaimer: I don't own those songs (I don't own Doctor Who, either, but we all know that), and while I can't post song lyrics according to the rules of this site, I think it's okay to mention a song name. That's all. Read on!**


	2. Chapter 2

The man's (the Doctor's) reaction was immediate. His face filled with anger and fear, and he pulled out something that looked like a pen with a blue light on the end. A strange metal creature (if this were a science fiction story, I would say it was some sort of droid) came into view and turned what I assumed was its eyestalk to face me.

"You are right not to trust him," it said haltingly in a harsh, metallic voice. Then it turned to face the Doctor. "Is this your new companion, Doctor?"

"Companion?" I turned to the Doctor. "Companion?!"

"It does not matter," the droid said. "She will be EXTERMINATED!"

"No," the Doctor said.

"EXTERMINATE!" The Doctor grabbed my hand and pulled me away, and the droid's shot barely missed me, hitting the road and creating a giant pothole (thankfully, nobody had been close enough to get hurt). The Doctor pulled out something that looked kind of like a bracelet, but had all sorts of buttons and controls on it. He aimed the pen-flashlight thing at the bracelet thing and pressed the button on the pen, which made a strange buzzing noise, and then he tossed the bracelet onto the droid's eyestalk. Finally, he used the pen on the bracelet again, and the creature disappeared.

...

"Where'd you get that?"

"My sonic screwdriver?" he asked, holding up the thing that looked like a pen. "I've had it for a long time."

"So that's what that is! But I was asking about the um... bracelet thing."

"Oh, you must mean the vortex manipulator. I got it from an old friend. A _very_ old friend, actually."

"What does it do?"

He thought for a moment. "What is it, the 21st century? I know you don't have any, but I assume you're familiar with the concept of a teleportation device?" I nodded.

"It's a teleportation device? So where did you send the..."

"Dalek. I sent it to the void. So basically, I killed it."

"You killed it?!"

"It nearly killed you first. Daleks show no mercy. Any other questions?"

"How do you get coordinates for 'the void'? And what is the void, anyway?"

"Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey." He used his sonic screwdriver again, doing what seemed to be some sort of scan. "Looks like that Dalek was the only one. Now then," he said, then walking on as if this was a typical day for him, "where were we?"


	3. Chapter 3

"What, before we were attacked by that Dalek and you saved my life?" I thought for a moment. "Oh, I never actually told you my name! I'm Catherine." We shook hands.

"You know, most people introduce themselves before almost dying."

"Well then, I'm not most people." I looked at the Doctor, this man who asked random strangers for help, then saved them with strange futuristic technology. "And I don't think you are, either."

"What do you mean?"

"I think there's more to you than meets the eye." The Doctor said nothing, he merely smiled. "So, you were telling me about Donna?" The Doctor nodded, and I could have sworn I saw tears in his eyes, but they were gone an instant later.

"So, as I said, she ended up in my TARDIS on her wedding day. Right in the middle of her wedding, she got transported to my TARDIS. As you can guess, she was not happy. She blamed me, of course. It wasn't my fault. I was still getting over Rose."

"Rose? You mean you've had other companions? Were they all women? Now I'm really beginning to think I should be worried." I looked at his face, and saw the tears streaming down. "Never mind. I shouldn't have said that."

"No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have mentioned Rose." He stared off into the distance. We walked in silence for a while.

"So, um... you said you're the Doctor, right?" He nodded, not really paying attention.

"So then, Doctor, tell me about Donna." He thought for a moment and looked at me. "She was just as distrustful of me when she first met as you were when you met me. Well, no, she was probably more distrustful than you were. And she was a lot more bold about her distrust. She slapped me! Twice! In one day!" He rubbed his face as if it still hurt. "Mind you, it's not the first time I've been slapped. That honor goes to Jackie Tyler, Rose's mum..." I was tempted to slap him myself to make him snap out of it, but I'd never slapped anyone before in my life and I decided now was not the time to start.

"You were telling me about Donna. You said you needed me to help her, remember?"

"And then I got distracted. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"Don't apologize, just tell me about Donna so I can help her."

"Right." The Doctor blinked back the tears that had begun forming when he mentioned Rose the second time. "So, after she finished berating me, I tried to get her back to her wedding, but she had been gone too long, and they had started the reception without her, which made her pretty mad, but she didn't have too much time to worry about that because..."

"What?" I glared at him. "You better not be stopping the story there!"

"No, no, sorry. It's just that... this is the part where the story starts getting, well... harder to believe."

"Try me," I told him, crossing my arms. I was NOT going to let him end the story like that.


	4. Chapter 4

"There's no way to make this sound normal, so I'll just flat out say it... The groom (well, the man who would have married her if she hadn't disappeared in the middle of the wedding) had been bribed by a Racnoss (a spider-like alien) to secretly slip her huon particles so that the Racnoss could get its children (who would go on to consume the Earth if released) back, but the huon particles are extremely dangerous, so by giving her the huon particles, the groom was also willing to kill Donna, and in fact the only reason he married her was to shut her up and continue to be able to slip her the huon particles, and then he was killed by the Racnoss and Donna survived, and then I killed the Racnoss and its children." He gasped for breath, and I wasn't sure which to be more surprised by: his story or his lung capacity. I stared at him in silence for a while. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"I don't know... It's just a lot to take in." He nodded, and we kept walking. It felt like we had been walking for days, but I knew it couldn't have been that long.

...

"So what happened after the whole wedding incident?" I finally asked. He looked up.

"So you believe me now?"

"I'm still not sure, but I'm willing to believe that something went wrong at Donna's wedding and that at some point, the two of you became friends." The Doctor nodded and resumed his story.

"After she told me off for killing the Racnoss, I took her back to her house. I asked if she'd like to come travel with me, but she told me she couldn't live a life like mine."

"Well, your life does sound a bit... dangerous."

"You have no idea," he said with a joking tone of voice but a serious expression.

"What happened to Donna? You said she didn't want to come with you, but you also said that the two of you became friends."

"Well, I left, and then I met Martha, who traveled with me for a while."

'How many companions has this guy had?' I wondered, but at this point I decided it was better not to ask. Instead I asked, "What happened to her?"

"She left me for two reasons. The first reason was that she had seen the Earth almost destroyed, so she wanted to be there for her family and friends and everybody else. She went on to become a doctor, you know. The second reason was that she loved me and I didn't love her back. I mean, I cared about her and all, but not like that. So, she left."

...

"And then you called Donna and asked her to come back?"

"Actually, no. She found me. She'd changed her mind about traveling with me, so she started investigating the sort of things she expected me to be investigating. It worked."

"What happened?"

"I'd love to tell you the whole story, but we don't really have time." He thought for a moment. "I've already given a lot of details, and all the while, Donna is in danger." He started speaking faster now. "After we defeated the aliens, she came with me. As a friend," he said, looking pointedly at me as if to try to convince me. "We traveled together and had lots of fun, and then..."

"And then?" I asked, irritated that the Doctor wouldn't finish his sentence.

...

"Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. Sorry, that's not a proper explanation." He took a deep breath. "I got shot by a Dalek and I was about to regenerate, but I didn't want to go, so I sent the extra energy into my severed hand that I had which had been chopped off after my previous regeneration, and then Donna touched the hand, so the hand turned into a person that was part me, part Donna (that process is called metacrisis), and then Donna got shot by a Dalek, and that woke up the part of me that had gone into her during the metacrisis, so she became the Doctor-Donna, part Time Lord, part human, except that a Time Lord mind can't stay in a human body, so I had to remove all memories of me from her mind and now I can never see her again." I had understood almost none of what the Doctor had said. I was about to ask all the questions running through my head, but when I looked up at him, I changed my mind. Tears were streaming down his face.

...

The Doctor was an enigma. The more I knew about him, the more questions I had. The more he talked about his friends, the more lonely he seemed. The more he revealed his tales of fighting aliens and traveling around the universe, the more human he seemed. The more he talked about the danger he had gotten himself and his friends into, the more I realized how many people he had saved. And the strangest part was this: the more it seemed like his life was dangerous, the more it seemed like fun and the more I wanted to join him.

"What do you need me to do?"


	5. Chapter 5

The Doctor's words kept replaying in my head. "They've kidnapped her. It's too secure for you to sneak in. You'll have to let yourself be captured, then find a way to escape." I boldly strode up to the giant wooden door, took a deep breath, and knocked four times.

...

"Who is this?" It occurred to me that my name didn't sound impressive enough. I needed to change something.

"It is I, Catherine Pendragon."

"Pendragon?"

"Yes, Pendragon. I am the daughter of King Arthur of Camelot. I am as yet his only heir." The door swung open wide, and a dangerous, muscular man loomed over me.

"Then you'll fetch a high ransom." He lunged forward and caught me in a headlock. I could have resisted, but it would have gotten me nowhere, and being captured was part of the plan, anyway. My captor looked over his shoulder, awaiting orders.

"Put her with the other one," came a voice from behind me. Then the man knocked me on the head, and everything went black.

* * *

I opened my eyes to see a red-haired woman next to me. I looked her over. She matched the Doctor's description perfectly. I had been placed next to Donna. We were both strapped uncomfortably to stiff wooden boards at a sixty-degree angle.

"They got you, too?" asked Donna. I nodded.

"How long have you been here?"

"Only a couple of days, I think. I'm not sure. It's hard to keep track of time here."

"Um... Are you Donna Noble, by any chance?" She stared at me with a mixture of shock and awe.

"How did you know?"

"The Doc... I mean, a friend told me." I remembered the Doctor's last words. "Whatever you do, don't tell her about me, or our adventures, or aliens, or anything like that. If she ever remembers, her head will burn and she will be gone forever." And here I had almost mentioned the Doctor. That was a close shave.

...

"What did your friend tell you?"

"He told me you'd been kidnapped."

"How did he know?"

"They were asking him for a ransom."

"So do I know him, then?"

"I don't know, but he knows you."

"I remember a time when I accused someone of kidnapping me... Ow! My head!" She was remembering. I had to do something!

...

Right then, our captor walked in, and Donna's train of thought was broken.

"You better hope your friends pay off your ransoms soon. I'm getting tired of your chatter. If I hear one more word out of either of you..." He made a slit-throat motion. Donna and I gulped.


	6. Chapter 6

A few minutes later, my fear had worn off. I boldly looked our captor in the eye. He returned my stare. Finally, I spoke. "I know what you want with me, but why Donna? What could you possibly need her for?"

"I told you to be quiet," he hissed. He drew his sword and walked right up to me. Holding the point of his sword to me, he said "No more questions. Do you understand?"

"No, I don't," I replied, snatching the sword out of his hand. That threw him off; he hadn't been expecting that. I held him at sword point and asked him "What do you want with Donna?"

...

"You know of her destiny as the Doctor-Donna. She is very powerful. We want to use her for personal gain."

"You can't. She's just Donna now."

"You lie!"

"No, I'm telling the truth."

"Well, no matter. We will soon restore her."

"If you do, her head will burn and she will die. You cannot use her."

"I don't believe you."

"I'm sick of this. Shut up and set us free, or I'll kill you." He sighed.

"I don't believe you have the guts."

"No, you're right, I don't," I admitted. "But I have no qualms about doing this," I said, knocking him out with the side of the blade. I shifted it in my hands and cut the chains holding me and Donna.

...

I grabbed Donna's hand. "Run!" And run we did, until we were far away from there.

"Thanks," Donna said, breathless. "What do I owe you?"

"Nothing. It was my pleasure," I said with a smile.

"What was that man saying about me?"

"Forget it. It's not important." We saw another one of the guards pursuing us. Donna slapped him, then kicked him for good measure. He fell to the ground, lacking the strength to carry on.

...

We kept on running, and I looked for some form of transportation. I was scanning the area, when all of a sudden I was distracted. I could have sworn I heard a voice in my head. _Come here_, it said. I_ can help you._ The voice was mysterious and inviting. I looked around, but couldn't seem to find any source. _I know about Donna's plight_, it said. _I know how to fix it. Come to me, and I will help._


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: cameo appearance here that was totally unplanned! But why not? The Merlin who makes an appearance here is the one from BBC Merlin, just FYI.**

_Where are you?_ I thought.

As if sensing my thoughts, it replied _Just listen to me. I'll give you directions._

* * *

A few minutes later, I arrived at a stall with a young man selling watches. "Hello," he said, and I recognized his voice as the one I'd been hearing in my head. "I'm Merlin, and I know how to help you. I have the gift of magic, and I know how Time Lord science works."

"How does it work?"

"To simplify it, the chameleon arch rewrites every cell in a person (or alien)'s biology."

"What's a chameleon arch?" Merlin pointed to the watches.

"I just fasten one of these to that contraption over there," he said, pointing to a helmet thing.

...

Donna, who hadn't been paying attention until now, looked over. "I'm not going in that!"

"Donna, can you please just do this? It will make it a lot easier for us to not get captured again," I said. Donna sighed dramatically, then walked over to the helmet. Merlin put one of the watches on the helmet, then flipped a switch. Donna screamed in agony as I cringed in sympathy.

...

"Is there anything you can do?" I asked Merlin.

"Maybe, let me see." Merlin started muttering things I couldn't understand. I realized he was casting a spell. Donna stopped screaming and closed her eyes. "The magical version of an anesthetic, essentially."

"When will she wake up?"

"In a few minutes, when the change is complete."

"And what is the change, exactly?"

"She'll be a Time Lord. She'll have the influence of the Doctor back, and all her memories will return."

"How?"

"It's a closely guarded secret that a chameleon arch can restore memories."

"Why is it a secret?"

"The Time Lords often punished those who were considered 'a danger to society' by removing their memories. They considered it more humane."

"But wouldn't the Doctor have been dangerous? Seems like he was messing around and doing things the Time Lords didn't like."

"He wasn't quite dangerous enough for them to punish him. And besides, when you wipe someone's mind, their personality typically remains."

...

Donna opened her eyes. "What happened?"

"You're a Time Lord now."

"Like the Doctor?" She gasped. "I remember the Doctor! How could I ever have forgotten him‽ Oh, right... But everything's okay." She looked at me. "Hello, Catherine. Thanks."

"Let's get you back to where you belong," I told her with a smile. "Thanks for your help, Merlin." We left.


	8. Chapter 8

I pulled out the sonic the Doctor had lent me. I called the TARDIS over, and we came in, smiling. Donna flew the TARDIS with ease, thanking me and rejoicing in her newfound identity as a Time Lord. "And now the Doctor isn't alone anymore," she pointed out gleefully. "He's got me, a friend and a fellow Time Lord."

...

The TARDIS came in for a landing, and Donna looked confused for a moment before flipping a switch, chuckling to herself as the TARDIS began making the familiar whooshing noise. "He leaves the brakes on."

"Well, we're only human," I said, then we laughed as I realized what I'd just said.

...

I stepped out, glad to be back on Earth instead of some strange planet. Donna ran up to the Doctor and hugged him. The Doctor looked shocked. "She can't know!" he cried.

"It's alright! She's back! She's a Time Lord now!" The Doctor felt Donna's pulse and realized I was right.

"Thank you so much!" The Doctor ran up and hugged me. "What would you like me to do for you? I'll give you anything. I owe you." I thought for a moment.

"Well, there is one thing."

"Go ahead."

"I'd ask to travel with you, but my family wouldn't want me to leave for who knows how long, even if it is a time machine. Can I have a sonic screwdriver? You have such a cool one, and it's so useful."

"Of course!" The Doctor went into the TARDIS, then came back out with a sonic screwdriver similar to his, except that the bottom could be twisted. "Twist that to call me, and I'll give you a visit. I should warn you, I may be a little early or late, but I'll try to get to the time you call for me. That way, you can go on the occasional adventure without being a full-time companion." He handed the sonic to me.

...

"Oh, thanks!" In a moment of joy, I kissed him on the cheek.

"Now come on, I'm sure you'd rather be with someone your own age," he replied, but I could have sworn I saw him smiling.

...

And then we parted ways, but I know I'll see him again. I look forward to that day, but in the meantime, I'll remember how he set me free from my boring life, and how I set Donna free and brought her back to him. They'll go on adventures, but for now, this adventure has been enough excitement for me. When I am tired or sad, I can look back on this time and remember the man who gave me adventure, purpose, and most importantly, freedom.


End file.
